Posts filed under ‘poem’
SNOW: A TIMELY POEM
As a resident of Pennsylvania, I’m gazing at a winter wonder land. We have just had our first snow storm and I post this poem to express what some residents will soon be experiencing with their shovels.
This poem was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s, The Bells.
THE SNOW
See the delicate snowflakes fall,
Falling, falling, falling.
Whitening the earth, awaiting below,
Falling, falling, falling.
See the mounds of glittering white,
Building, building, building.
As they hide the ground from our sight,
Building, building, building.
See the ceaseless falling snow,
Falling, falling, falling.
Will it stop, no one quite knows,
Falling, falling, falling.
See the drifts accumulate,
Building, building, building.
My longing for spring will no longer wait,
Building, building, building.
SEE THE DAMNED WHITE BLANKET GROW,
HIDING, HIDING, HIDING.
MY CAR, MY LAWN, ALL I KNOW,
HIDING, HIDING, HIDING.
SEE MY MADNESS, MY URGE TO KILL,
GROWING, GROWING, GROWING,
CROSS MY PATH, AND I’LL DO YOU ILL,
SMILING, SMILING, SMILING.
MY ATTEMPT AT WRITING POETRY: THE WHEATFIELD REVEALED
The following poem was published in the Clover Collection of Verse Vol. XII, edited by Evelyn Petry, in 1976.
THE WHEATFIELD REVEALED
Friendless you toiled with palette and brush,
Forlorn amidst wheatfields with only the rush
Of flying crows to mark the day,
Crossed paths unite yet yield no safe way,
Fulfillment beneath sorrowful skies
Painting with troubled soul once cries
Out for love but finds only torment,
Thus, your life spent.
Tramping through fields of cypress and corn
With stars and suns swirl in a morn,
Hatband-held candles yield flickering light
Sustaining your soul on last starry night,
Rooks swirled in violet a soul hungers still,
Standing alone – the wheatfield revealed.
MY ATTEMPT AT WRITING POETRY: CAMERA’S EYE
For a while I was living in Newark, New Jersey, working in the Bronx and driving to work on the New Jersey Turnpike. The drive took me through the marsh between Newark and the Hudson River. Along the way I noticed a small dock with a boat or two there. The surrounding area was less than attractive but, in my mind, I would imagine the dock on a tranquil lake or on an inlet leading to the ocean. This poem is the result of those thoughts.
The following poem was published in the Clover Collection of Verse Vol. XII, edited by Evelyn Petry, in 1976.
CAMERA’S EYE
Camera’s eye catches delicate flowers,
Views the graceful bee in pollination flight,
Spies the brushing of pollen – laden stamens,
Holds in time a scene most tranquil;
Yet does not discover the roadside trash,
The flower’s home amid mud and mire;
Does not smell the exhaust raining acid
On delicate flowers.
Camera’s eye gazes upon a child framed in a window,
Beholds the easy lean of chin in palm, elbow on windowsill,
Wide eyes looking out at the world in wonder,
Knows the innocent child – wisdom;
Yet ignores the window’s building,
Screens out the ghetto of rotted houses and dreams.
MY ATTEMPT AT WRITING POETRY: CITY DEATH
Published by New Worlds Unlimited in Whispers of the Unchained Heart in 1977.
CITY DEATH
Gone-
Murdered by concrete
And polluted air,
Witness to city’s growth,
Yielding shade on sultry days,
Forming crystalline sculptures in winter,
Morning drones with saws,
A barren stump your marker,
Death your reward.
MY ATTEMPT AT WRITING POETRY: PARK RESIDENT
Published by New Worlds Unlimited in Shadows of the Elusive Dreams in 1975.
PARK RESIDENT
Winding through city streets,
Stumbling from a park-bench sleep,
In the uncertain light of dawn
He wanders,
Eyes brimmed with despair,
Blessed with another day
His mind recalls vague dreams,
Dreams of his youth
Gone to mist,
Less often now come dreams
Unknown to park-bench beds,
Night brings only cold,
Thoughts void of future.
MY ATTEMPT AT WRITING POETRY: EVERGLADE’S JOURNEY
Published by New Worlds Unlimited in Mirrors of the Wistful Dreamer in 1980.
EVERGLADE’S JOURNEY
Propellor spins,
And engine speaks a staccato song
To water and tree,
Sawgrass streaks by
In a maze of wildlife and nature,
Animals scurry,
Alligators lift their horny heads
And lacking patients with mankind
Move on,
Free,
Gliding along a filmy surface of life
Where nature exists as a power
Not as a tool.
MY ATTEMPT AT WRITING POETRY: HOPE
Published by New Worlds Unlimited in Mirrors of the Wistful Dreamer in 1980.
HOPE
Hope,
Like tiny bubbles
In the mirky depths
Of liquid life,
Traveling to the surface
They expand,
Realizing only too late
They have traveled too far
And burst.
MY ATTEMPT AT WRITING POETRY: A RAINDROP FALLS
Published by New Worlds Unlimited in Tracings of the Valiant Soul in 1978.
A RAINDROP FALLS
A raindrop falls
Its birth uncertain,
Its death
A roadside pond,
The center ripples
And long after
The raindrop expires
Long after its fate is done
Gentle waves are felt
Along the shore.
MY ATTEMPT AT WRITING POETRY: OVERHEAD
Published by New Worlds Unlimited in Journeys of the Poet / Muse in 1983.
OVERHEAD
Overhead, one by one the light bulbs expire,
Their guts bursting,
And in death their ghosts yield a softer view of life,
Harsh shadows melt away,
Reality fades into the background
And the room’s boundaries sink into infinity,
Another bursts in incandescent death,
Familiar objects take on new shapes
As possessions melt from sight,
A book left open,
The words blur into feelings,
Something calls from the darkness
Waiting to be released as the last flame fades.
MY ATTEMPT AT WRITNG POESTRY: DISTANT JEWEL
Published by New Worlds Unlimited in Echoes of the Unlocked Odyssey in 1974.
THE DISTANT JEWEL
Shimmering diamonds in the distance,
Glimmering pearls on an ebony sea,
The city lies ahead
Made lovely by night
And the span of miles,
Those who know her close
Have seen her decay,
Known her bright avenues
The debris of progress,
The broken spirit of men.
Distance lends to a hazy beauty,
Close inspection,
Horror.